Cops have a strong lead on the man wanted in the brutal rape and slashing of a 21-year-old woman he met at a downtown bar – his photograph.

“He’s a date rapist,” said Captain Laurie Unick, commanding officer of the Manhattan Major Crimes Squad.

Police said the incident began harmlessly in the early-morning hours last Thursday when six women, all in their 20s, were celebrating a birthday at the Village Idiot in the West Village, when the man approached them.

He is described as 5-foot-9, 200 pounds, in his 30s or 40s, with slicked-back black hair and sporting several tattoos, including one that possibly reads “Vietnam.”

As their party was breaking up, two of the women – the 25-year-old victim, who is a student and waitress from Mississippi, and her 23-year-old friend, who lives on the Upper East Side – shared a cab uptown with the suspect, said Unick.

The trio stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in the neighborhood.

After they finished their meal, the women invited the suspect back to the 23-year-old’s apartment on Second Avenue in the 50s. They told cops he was there to continue their conversation. But cops say he had other things in mind.

“I believe their intentions were different than his intentions,” Unick said.

The younger woman, who shared the apartment with two other women, was too tired to stay up and went to sleep. Her friend and the suspect remained awake, continuing their talk.

The friend, who was preparing to leave town that morning, finally broke off the conversation to take a shower, leaving the man in the apartment.

When she emerged from the bathroom, the man pulled a knife and attacked her, punching her in the face before raping her – and stabbing her repeatedly as she tried to fight him off.

“He tells her he’s gonna kill her friend,” said Unick.

After the suspect fled the scene, one of the roommates returned to the blood-splattered apartment and called police.

The victim was slashed in the hands, face and suffered tendon damage to her right arm that were serious enough for her to be kept in a local hospital until yesterday, police said.

Police discovered that a security camera at the coffee shop caught the man on video.

Anyone with information about the suspect is urged to contact police at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls are confidential.